Saturday, March 28, 2009

La Cense Beef is a company that produces the fanciest, free-roaming cows eating gourmet Montana grass and they are then turned into the fanciest all-natural, lean and luscious cuts of meat.

Now as much as I love to cook I tend to be very bargain-basement-minded with my meats not because I don't like a good steak but because trying to cook for this crowd means keeping things as inexpensive as I can so I'm not used to some of the more select cuts. But having said that I was very curious to see if I could tell a difference--to see if all the hype translated into flavor.

Well they sent me one of their pot roasts and the nice thing is, they're completely cooked. You just heat them to 145 degrees and you've got an instant feast. So last Sunday I took out the roast, prepared it according to directions and warmed it just as the instructions said.

I took it out, let it stand 10 minutes to solidify the juices then sliced it up and set it with a pretty presentation right in the middle of the table. I called to the family that dinner was ready, they ran into the dining room and do you know the first thing out of those little heathens' mouths?

"JELLO! Mom made JELLO!"

[She slaps her forehead in disbelief]

Of course when everyone was served and had taken their first bite the next thing they said was "Wow this meat is tender!"

And that was the general consensus, that though La Cense Beef is quite lean from the way the cattle are raised that the roast was amazingly tender. Of course the family is used to my pathetic attempts at pot roasts where I pretty much rely on a nuclear explosion to flash cook things in time for dinner but regardless of the our history with meat we all thought it was by far the best we'd ever had.

Now as I've mentioned, this is pretty fancy beef. And frankly it may not be something you spring for every day but with Easter dinner looming on the horizon this is the perfect way to do something a little special to celebrate. I'd love to try some of their other cuts--I can imagine how amazing a Eye Round Roast would be--and if your roasting skills leave something to be desired then get their fully cooked cuts and forget about the stress.

This week's winner will receive, courtesy of La Cense Beef, a five pound pot roast of their own plus a pound of ground beef and a t-shirt. You'll be ready to go.

In addition, for the winner I also happen to have coupons for free packages of Sunsweet Ones (a $4 value) which are their new individually wrapped dried plums and of Tyson Foods bagged or boxed products (a $10 value) good through the end of this year.

Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

Mama used to make pot roast in a pressure cooker with the potatoes and carrots cooked in with it. Divine. I don't have a pressure cooker. I am not interested in seeing how far off the ground I can blow my house.This would be a lovely prize, because with a vegetarian husband and incredibly picky children, I would get a whole pot roast all to myself. I'll fix them jello.

Kids! You're reminding me of and earlier day, having taken our brood to a local restaurant for the all-you-can-eat buffet, our two teen-aged boys (BIG eaters) and their younger sister proceeded to fill their plates with mostly jello rather than all the other terrific choices. Needless to say, the restaurant made some money on US that day!

LA CENSE BEEF......! OH MAIS OUI BIENSUR...C'EST DELICIEUX.....I LOVE ROAST BEEF, IT REMINDS ME OF MY MOM COOKING THEM FOR A SPECIAL SUNDAY MEAL, YEARS AGO. IT LOOKS COOKED JUST THE WAY IT SHOULD BE COOKED ON THE PICTURE AND ...YES...IN THE "JUS" THOSE LITTLE NEW POTATOES!THANK YOU FOR THE GIVEAWAY, (I WON'T TELL THOSE COWS ABOUT THEIR DESTINY) IF I SEE THEM!

I just read an article about how grass fed beef contains more beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids than your standard grocery store fare. The article also blames a shortage of Omega 3 in our diets for everything from decreased brain power to increased violence in society.